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Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said some of the funds will be used by the Agriculture Ministry for irrigation projects, the Public Health Ministry for rural healthcare centres and hospitals, and the Transport Ministry for rural road projects.

Six state-owned banks and other financial institutions will be recapitalised so that they could provide more loans to SMEs and other sectors of the economy.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva will launch the first project next month, as the new fiscal year starts on October 1, so that fresh funds can be injected into the economy quickly to help stimulate growth following the sharp contraction in GDP in earlier quarters of this year.

Korn said the government would ensure that these investment schemes are implemented transparently. A website will be set up to allow the public to help monitor their progress and check efficiency.

The Cabinet also approved a Finance Ministry proposal to divert Bt100 billion from a Bt400-billion borrowing plan to boost economic stimulus spending.

Under a recent royal decree, the government can borrow Bt400 billion, half of which will be handed over to the Finance Ministry to cover the budget deficit.

However, the deficit would not be as large as expected, because the government was now collecting more revenue than forecast, so more loan proceeds could be allocated to economic stimulus measures, Korn said.

The government has also set aside a Bt8-billion budget for development of the country's cultural assets over three years, the Culture Ministry said.

Veera Rojpojanarat, the ministry's permanent secretary, said funds would also be used to modernise libraries, theatres, museums, temples, religious centres and cultural heritage sites.

Besides educational purposes, this will help the country capitalise on its cultural assets to generate tourism income.

"Now, many countries in Asia have turned to making use of their cultural assets to develop the so-called creative economy," he said.

The Bt8 billion will be used to finance 14 projects, such as the production of films and videos, and the development of cultural centres and life-long learning centres as well as value-added tourism promotion centres.